"What do you think of this?" Becca bounded out of the change cubicle in a number that made her look years older than she was, and not in a good way. It was all sorts of wrong on a teen, in Cammy's opinion. Of course, our heroine, our damsel-Cupid-in-the-making was slightly risk-averse and—how shall we say?—shy?

That plunging neckline had given her heart palpitations just by looking at it as Becca had pulled it off the rack.

Cammy—ever the bored friend when they shopped together—though eager to pass her Cupid assignment, merely glanced up out of courtesy. Then went straight back to flipping pages on the magazine she'd grabbed out of Becca's bag. "Still a no."

"You're not even looking!"

"I know what it looks like. Besides, you are going to a wedding, not clubbing!"

"Clubbing would be fun—when we can go." Becca pouted, eyeing her reflection in the large mirror at the end of the aisle. "I wanted to look good for Reggie."

"What you wanted was to turn Reggie on. There's a difference!" Cammy slapped the magazine down on the empty chair next to her, and within seconds, was turning Becca around to face her. "Your aim is not to be something someone wants only when you show skin! What is wrong with you humans?"

Becca chuckled despite Cammy's glare. "Humans? Really? And what are you? An alien?"

She wasn't entirely wrong, in a way. As far as Cammy knew, her mum wasn't from Earth, which made her at least half-alien if she was to go by the human definition of 'alien'. Not that she was ever going to say this to her friend.

Cammy nearly bit her tongue. Why had she said 'humans'? Was this her Cupid side coming out?

She cleared her throat, embarrassed. "You know what I mean. Value yourself, your body and your mind, before someone else will. And this dress screams exactly the opposite."

"You need something that will say to Reggie, 'here's a girl you can't imagine life without', not this—she is easy, thing." Cammy eyed the dress again and shook her head. "I can't let you wear this."

"Then what should I get?"

"While you've been wasting time picking uhhhhgly dresses, I did the best friend thing and asked mum to recommend a few places. She sent me a list." Cammy beamed, showing Becca the text message from her mum with three other shops to check out. Of course, what Cammy hadn't shown her was the message that said which one they 'absolutely had to check out'. A dress shop owned by—here's the thing—another Cupid in disguise. His name was Lorenzo Valentine. His shop was number one on the list her mum, Rati, had sent.

Shop's name: Amor—like they couldn't be any more obvious if they had tried. Alas, humans were not astute enough to recognise Godly business most of the time. They couldn't explain why they entered a business they hadn't meant to go to; or why bought that thing that had suddenly caught their eye.

Having forgotten her glasses at home, Becca squinted at the phone. "Oh, the first one is close by. Just a few streets over. We can walk there."

Cammy smiled on the inside. "My thoughts exactly."

"Rati's daughter?"

No sooner had Cammy and Becca entered the Amor, one living-breathing God had fired the question at Cammy. His sun-kissed skin glowed unnaturally. His dark wavy hair framed his chiseled face. A sharp nose on an equally sharp face. To offset the tan, his azure blue eyes looked bright and cheerful. His lips curved with a Cupid's bow—a feature Cammy didn't miss. How could she? The man-slash-god was gorgeous with a capital G.

Lorenzo Valentine could have been an exotic male model, earning millions and cruising the Mediterranean on his private yacht with a merry band of groupies. Instead, he owned what her mother had coined a 'humble' shop. If by humble she meant dripping with rich gold accents, plush pink arrangements everywhere, Italian marble for the floor, and dresses by designers they hadn't even heard of. Then yes, Lorenzo Valentine and his 'shop' were as humble as they come.

Cammy would have preferred to use the word 'stupendous' to describe them both if she didn't fear being called 'pretentious'!

In true Euro-style, Valentine air-kissed the girl's cheeks, and Cammy saw Becca turn tomato red for once in her life. She couldn't blame the girl. As far as mummy had warned, Valentine was a good Cupid, a great stylist, and the greatest charmer the world had ever seen.

"What can I do for you, young ladies?" His velvet-smooth voice was slightly husky.

"She needs a dress," Cammy offered, unperturbed by Valentine's Cupid charm. She too was an up-and-coming Cupid. Two could play this game.

Cammy returned the smile, her stance a lot more confident now than it would have been that morning. "She's going to a wedding as the bride's younger brother's date. It's the first time she's meeting his family. We need something that says, 'welcome to the family,' and have them mean it, Mr Valentine."

Inside, Cammy was doing jigs, unable to believe she'd just said all that she had, while Becca tugged at her arm, astonished. But words would not come to her lips while Valentine was still around.

"Please!" He begged with a crooked smile. Becca's blush deepened. "Call me Enzo. And right this way, mi amours. Take a seat. Give me five to pull out some options. While you wait, I'll have my girls bring you drinks."

He winked at them as he left. "They'll be virgins, of course."

Once 'Enzo' was out of sight, Becca released a breath and cooed. "That man is unreal!"

Cammy smiled and placed a hand on Becca's back. Time to try a spell Mr Sultan had taught her. A spell to get her friend to focus on her crush. It was called the 'Lovecubator'—terrible name, but Aziz had insisted it wasn't him who had coined it.

For a moment, Cammy wondered what her mentor was doing now that she was on mission and flying solo. But the moment was brief. She closed her eyes and uttered the spell.

Let the love incubate! She thought dryly as Enzo wheeled out a rack with a selection of dresses that had to be made in heaven. The shimmer on them was definitely otherworldly.

Cammy smiled to herself. There was so much other world stuff in and around humans that they never noticed, but she was beginning to. These dresses sang! No, really. If she closed her eyes, there was an ethereal hum in the air emanating from them—as if angels were singing.

"Oh, my god!" Becca gasped next to her, jumping to her feet in delight. "These are drop-dead gorgeous. Reggie's gonna love it!"

Enzo gave Cammy another wink. "You'll be simply irresistible, darling! Come, let's give them a whirl. Let's see if this fairy godmother can find you a dress to make that prince of yours fall head over heels in love if he isn't already!"

He spun Becca into the change room with a dress in hand and sat down next to Cammy on the couch.

"Nice job with the spell!"

"Thank you." Cammy felt pride bloom in her chest. Since she cast that spell, Becca had not once swooned with Enzo around. It was working.

"What's the case number?" He asked, pressing a buzzer on the coffee table. "Your mum mentioned your training has begun."

"The first case," Cammy replied. It was odd to be having this conversation with another Cupid who wasn't her dad, mum, or Aziz Sultan.

She turned to him eagerly. "So is there like a lot of us down here, Cupiding?"

"Cupiding? Well, that's one way of putting it." Enzo's laugh was melodic. "And yes, there's a fair few of us. The human population isn't what it used to be, love. Back in the day, we were maybe a thousand at best, but they breed like rabbits. Seven billion and counting. So yeah, there's a few more of us now."

Cammy pouted. "Can I ask you another question?"

"Depends on the question."

How should I ask this?

"Just ask like you would any other question."

Cammy's mouth fell open. "Did you just read my mind?"

"I'm a lot older than I look, love. And the older we get, the better we get." Enzo gave her a crooked smile accompanied by a wink. "So tell me, what's the situation here, with your friend?"

As Becca tried a few more dresses, coming out to show them each time, and each time loving the new dress more, Cammy relayed quietly, the Reggie-loves-Becca tale.

"It's a great first case. Reminds me of my first one. You'll be fine. First cases are usually a sure-fire thing." An assistant who arrived with a tray of drinks distracted Enzo. An assistant Cammy was suddenly—and strangely—taken by.

"Cammy Kamdev, meet Matias Valentine, my younger brother, and I believe, your partner on the next case... should you pass this one, of course."

"My what?" Cammy blurted—not the most eloquent of words.

"Matias is also a trainee. He's however already past his first case. They have recently assigned him his second, and it's a rare case. A shared case. Doesn't happen often, but sometimes they accidentally pick a hard case out of that proverbial hat for trainees. And once a case is pulled from the hat, it cannot go back in, so they assign two trainees to it since they don't actually want you, young folks, to fail on a case that would have normally gone to senior agents. It's so you succeed. But it's also one they can penalise you on. If you fail, it will move up the latter to more able agents, and you'll get fresh new case number dos."

Enzo stood as Becca came out in the last dress he'd picked for her. A faint lilac three-quarter dress that made her look like an elegant ballerina. It was—"Perfect!"

Indeed. It was perfect. Better than anything Cammy could have found on her own.

As Enzo fussed about Becca, matching accessories, Matias stepped closer and extended a hand. His sapphire-blue gaze twinkled like water reflecting moonlight. His windswept walnut hair had the cutest cowlick. When he smiled, his left cheek dimpled.

"Nice to meet you, partner." His voice tasted like hot cocoa in winter.

"Pa—"partner? Cammy shook his hand, remembering what her dad had taught her about handshakes. Keep them firm and level "Nice to meet you too, Matias." She dare not smile for fear she'd show all her teeth.

Her insides were liquifying as Matias sat next to her and watched his brother turn her friend into a piece of art.

"Your case reminds me of his first." Matias's voice was smooth and strong with a hint of an accent. "And you know what he did to ensure it succeeded?"

He turned to her with his heart-stealing smile.

Cammy shook her head, muted.

"He tagged along to the wedding in his cupid form and fired his first arrow, even when it wasn't necessary for the heck of it. The couple fell in love so hard they humped like rabbits for days and popped out a brood of kids by the time the arrow's effect wore off."

Cammy turned to watch Enzo present Becca; resplendent in her dress and simple accessories. She turned, not because it was the right thing by her friend who stood expecting her attention. No, Cammy had turned, because for once, her heart had skipped a beat. It's very first skip, and the fact that he'd just put the image of people doing the dirty in her mind didn't help her any. She'd daydreamed... about Matias, in front of him.

What if he could read minds as Enzo could? She hadn't wanted to take that chance.

Cammy felt her cheeks flush, and she rushed to her feet, eager to get away from her 'partner'.

"You look unbelievable, Bec!"

"You're damn right she does. That boy does not know what's about to hit him, aye, Cammy?" Enzo winked at her.

Cammy smiled nervously. "It's perfect. She's perfect."

Enzo air-kissed Becca's cheeks again and said with a flourish, "Then my job here is done. Change out of it, darling, and I'll have an assistant pack it up for you."

Becca nervously glanced at Cammy. "Umm, how much is it all?"

"For Rati's daughter and her friend? Absolutely nothing, gorgeous. You just enjoy the wedding." Enzo waved at them without a glance. "I have a client waiting, so don't mind, but Matias will see you both off. Toddles, darlings."

Becca squealed in delight and squeezed Cammy in a crushing hug before she bounded back into the change room. "Today's been the best day ever!"

Cammy stole a glance at Matias and couldn't help the smile. Yes, yes, it is. Best day ever.

"We should grab a drink sometime. Share our stories? I have this really whacky trainer, so I have many stories." Matias raked a hand through that gorgeous hair.

"You should meet mine!" Cammy laughed, wondering if anyone could be as wacky as Aziz Sultan.

"He's this short guy, so angsty, and absolutely terrible at reading rooms. He has the weirdest way of introducing himself." Cammy chuckled, remembering the first day she'd met her mentor. "I'm Agent 777-slash-Cupid 777-but I prefer my given name—"

"Aziz Sultan," Matias uttered in disbelief. "Holy smokes. You got the same guy?"

Whaaa? Cammy blinked at him like a deer in the headlights.

WC: 2264 TWC: 19, 733

[A/N: I have a confession to make! The name Lorenzo/Enzo was totally inspired by the swap (and handsome actor) who plays Enzo in The Vampire Diaries! 😂 I may have a tiny crush on the man. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next up, the wedding!]